Star Trek is boldly going into one other new future on the finish of the month with Prodigy, its first-ever CG animated sequence. It’s additionally the primary to be explicitly aimed toward households and youthful audiences, in comparison with Trek’s typical demographics. But whereas there’s a lot new to discover with the present—new heroes and villains, new worlds, and a perspective outdoors the Federation—there’s one vital facet Prodigy has revered from Star Trek previous.

Captain Kathryn Janeway—Kate Mulgrew’s legendary character from Star Trek: Voyager—is returning for Prodigy, however not fairly as we all know her. Introduced as a Command Training Hologram aboard the first ship of the sequence (the experimental Starfleet cruiser U.S.S. Protostar), Mulgrew’s return will not be within the flesh, as Sir Patrick Stewart’s was for Picard. But as io9 discovered from her fellow forged and crew at New York Comic Con just lately, in addition to from the Captain herself, Janeway’s comeback is a side of Prodigy that doesn’t simply tie the entire sequence collectively however gives a beacon for newcomer and fan alike to be guided into a brand new form of Star Trek altogether.

Janeway isn’t Prodigy’s solely touchstone to attach its alien teen heroes to the broader Trek franchise—she’s not the one Voyager character even, as we just lately discovered that Robert Beltran will reprise his position as Commander Chakotay from the sequence, albeit now because the Captain of his personal ship at this level within the timeline. But for Dan and Kevin Hageman, Prodigy’s showrunners, Voyager and Janeway herself had been pure first decisions when it got here to bringing in a well-recognized face who might information a rough-and-ready younger crew of children within the methods of Starfleet exploration. “I think it was Voyager—I wouldn’t say we’re using just Voyager, as you’ll see later in the series we touch a lot of the shows—but it was in the first 30 seconds when we came up with this idea of an outsider’s point of view, who would be the worst first crew and seeing them become a great crew,” Dan Hageman instructed io9 over video, within the wake of Prodigy premiering its first episodes to followers at NYCC. “We knew they wouldn’t be able to fly a starship from out of a planet on their own, you know?”

“Captain Janeway was the only consideration. I think we got Chakotay through hologram Janeway,” Kevin added. “We’re always thinking about heart. What do these characters care about? So I think that’s the reason why Robert Beltran as Chakotay got involved, too.”

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That coronary heart is what Mulgrew felt in becoming a member of the sequence. “It felt very good for exactly that reason,” she added. “It is an important time for Voyager, it’s an important time for Star Trek. I think in terms of pop cultural history, now is the time to target this young demographic and introduce to them the wonderful mysteries of Star Trek and Gene Roddenberry’s splendid philosophy.” The differing circumstances of her return additionally gave the actor an attention-grabbing problem for her efficiency: how do you play a holographic illustration of somebody you embodied 26 years in the past? “There is a certain discipline I have to practice here: a hologram would not have the dimensions of a practical Janeway,” Mulgrew defined, “but she also has additional qualities that I wanted to bring into her—a sense of whimsy. A sense of almost child-like irreverence—which is one way to get a kid’s attention, right?”

Janeway was identified for being slightly ruthless together with her opponents when her again was towards the wall as a Captain, however as a hologram—and with a crew of children underneath her care—her sternness comes by in different methods. “A little joke. A little practical joke,” Mulgrew teased of her character’s strategy to educating Prodigy’s unlikely new recruits. “The punishments that this holographic Janeway issues are not so punitive as they are, ‘Well, if that’s the way you want to do it… you’re gonna have to learn the hard way.’ It’s good. She’s a wonderful teacher.”

That strategy is one thing her youthful co-stars appreciated, even when, because of recording amidst an ongoing pandemic, most of Prodigy’s youngest stars didn’t get an opportunity to satisfy Mulgrew in particular person till they got here collectively for the latest conference. “I wish that we could have done it in person. Because of covid, we all have to isolate while doing our sessions and I wonder had we all been in the room together, and we’d all been there… how would that have influenced us?” Ella Purnell performs Gwyn, the daughter of John Noble’s sinister villain, the Diviner—she will get whisked alongside for the sequence’ journey throughout the Delta Quadrant. Purnell, who wasn’t capable of attend NYCC and meet Mulgrew in particular person, instructed io9, “I think I would have been too afraid to do anything —I’d so desperately want her to like me. She’s just so cool. She just exudes this grace, she’s an icon, she’s a legend. And I’m very jealous I haven’t yet met her in person and these two [co-stars Brett Gray and Rylee Alazraqui] have.”

“I got to sit next to her today at Comic Con—and it is, it’s palpable,” Gray (arguably Prodigy’s major star as Dal, the younger man who discovers the Protostar and helps his new associates escape a lifetime of servitude underneath the Diviner’s authoritarian grip) stated. “You can feel her next to you, when you speak to her she’s looking directly at you. And she’s speaking directly to you. The words that she chooses are the exact thing that she wishes to get across to you, and it’s very inspiring. There’s a majesty that she has, and you can feel it when we announced she was coming out today. Just to walk on stage for the panel was like— the audience was deafening. She is an icon. And so, I feel very lucky that the first iteration of Star Trek we get to be a part of has someone like that we get to model and watch. People who are incredible fans of Janeway and all of that get to now have a way into our show, too, and see what it’s like for people who know nothing.”

Knowing there was a figurehead like Janeway connected to Prodigy pushed Mulgrew’s co-stars within the recording sales space, too. “Working with her was a pleasure, and I’m really grateful to be working with her,” stated Alazraqui, the younger woman who voices the larger-than-life (but very candy) Brikar Rok-Tahk. “She’s definitely inspired us to be our best and she’s so well known and an amazing, amazing actress and person, herself, I think that we’re all totally inspired by her. I think she’s going to help us along the way—and already made me realize what Star Trek is all about just by talking to her, and hearing her talk about it.”

The expertise is a humbling one for Mulgrew too, to revisit a personality that now means a lot to so many individuals—and can imply simply as a lot as Prodigy seems forward. “It’s a wonderful thing. It’s a thing of great value and dignity in my life as both an actress and in pop culture, and certainly in more meaningful valleys of real thought—science, for instance, how Janeway has affected women in science and STEM… it’s been an extraordinary trip, let me tell you that,” Mulgrew ruminated. “And it’s not about to end. So, there’s something about this that is deeply mysterious, and I’m not going to argue with it.”

“It feels good, feels lucky… but it also feels nostalgic. I’m not a sentimental person—and neither is Janeway. By nostalgic, I mean… I can’t help but feel stirred up by what was, and what we are now going forward into a new future, and into a new way of telling this story. So, it’s moving, to me.”

Star Trek: Prodigy begins streaming on Paramount+ on October 28. After the sequence is full, it is going to then start airing on Nickelodeon.

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